Trial date set for local publisher, erotica author accused of stealing royalties from clients

Posted on 07/31/2018

GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) - A trial date has been set for a Weld County publisher and romance novel author accused of altering her clients’ book sales and pocketing the stolen royalties.

Monday morning, Jana Koretko plead not-guilty to two dozen charges stemming from an investigation into the allegations.

Koretko is charged with six counts of theft, nine counts of computer crimes, five counts of money laundering and four counts of tax evasion.

According to the arrest affidavit, Koretko owns JK Publishing, primarily exclusive to romance and Erotica authors, and is accused of stealing more than $125k from multiple clients during a two-year period.

The Weld County District Attorney’s Office was first notified of the alleged scheme in August 2015 when one of the company’s authors noticed several discrepancies in her royalty payments.

After further investigation, authorities learned Koretko was manipulating the monthly and quarterly sales reports from E-book retailers, like Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble and Kobo, to indicate lower sales.

In some instances, she is accused of exaggerating book sales to make the authors believe the novels were doing well or becoming bestsellers.

During the course of the investigation, 15 authors were identified as victims in Koretko’s alleged scams.

It was also determined she under-reported book sales by more than 10,000 books, resulting in more than $125,000 in royalty losses to her clients.

Among the many thefts, she’s also accused of falsifying her income on a tax return and not filing returns for two consecutive years.

Koretko plead not guilty to all 24 charges. A trial date has been set for February 19, 2019.